Allard Prize for International Integrity Ceremony

Keynote speaker: American journalist and author Glenn Greenwald, who broke the story of U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden to the world and co-founded the award-winning news outlet, The Intercept. The Intercept covers national security, politics, criminal justice and more, and gives its journalists the editorial freedom and legal support they need to pursue investigations that expose corruption and injustice.

Car Wash Task Force (Força Tarefa da Lava Jato) – This Brazilian anti-corruption prosecution task force has worked to prosecute some of the most powerful Brazilian political leaders, including the popular former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was convicted of corruption and money laundering earlier this month. “Operation Car Wash” began as a local money laundering investigation and grew into the largest probe to date uncovering cases of state capture and grand corruption in Brazil. Its investigations have resulted in over 280 persons charged, 157 convictions, 1,563 years of cumulative jail time and restitution agreements of over US$3 billion. The Task Force’s work has led to the most significant anti-corruption bill in Brazil’s history, supported by over 2 million Brazilian citizens, and underscores the message that everyone is equal under the law and even the most powerful leaders will be held accountable.

Khadija Ismayilova — As an investigative journalist in Azerbaijan, Khadija Ismayilova writes about high-level corruption and misuse of power in Azerbaijan for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Radio Free Europe’s Azerbaijani service. In 2010, Ismayilova revealed the corruption of Azerbaijan's President, Ilham Aliyev, reporting that the President’s wife and children owned real estate in the United Arab Emirates worth USD $44 million. In 2013, Ismayilova received private video footage of herself in her home from an anonymous source, with a note warning her to behave. She was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison on charges that many saw as retaliation for her reports. In 2016, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan released Ismayilova on probation but forbid her to travel abroad for five years without official permission.

Azza Soliman – A renowned women’s rights lawyer, Azza Soliman is the co-founder of the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA). She has dedicated her life to fighting corruption and injustice faced by Egyptian women in both the private sphere and the judicial system. Soliman is one of the first liberal lawyers to work with Islamic groups, having been in the field of human rights and development for more than 12 years. The Egyptian government has curtailed Soliman’s freedom by freezing her private assets and banning her from traveling outside Egypt.